The book by American lawyer Stephen Williams tells how, starting in 1906, on the eve of the World War and the catastrophic revolution, the Russian government undertook probably the most massive "privatization" in history, radically changing the property regime in which 90 million peasants lived. The author's research on property rights reforms reveals the advantages and weaknesses of radical transformations aimed at creating liberal democracy and carried out by a government that cannot be described as either liberal or democratic.